Davy Russell: The Labour candidate who caused upset in Hamilton
Davy Russell seemed an unlikely choice as a by-election candidate for Labour in a marginal seat.
Russell, 67, had spent more than 40 years at Glasgow city council as a roads engineer, retiring as director of operational services.
The selection itself was controversial. He won by just two votes only after another candidate, the former Western Isles MSP Alasdair Morrison, unusually urged members to support Russell rather than himself.
A father and now grandfather, Russell described his victory as 'the biggest high since the birth of my grandson six weeks ago on the day I was selected as the candidate'.
Russell's local roots turned out to be his strongest attribute. Born, bred and schooled in the Quarter district in Hamilton, he was a member of a cornucopia of organisations, including the Eddlewood bowling club, playing regularly and amassing a network of connections in the constituency.
His community credentials were bolstered even further after he became a deputy lieutenant of Lanarkshire, one of several individuals appointed by the lord-lieutenant — the King's representative in the county — to help carry out public duties.
Dame Jackie Baillie, the deputy Scottish Labour leader, said Russell had 'lived and breathed this entire community for the whole of his life'.
He combined his local government career with external commercial work as a director of two companies while working at the council.
Investors in his Clyde Valley Developments included the former Rangers and Scotland player Barry Ferguson and Asim Sarwar, the brother of the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar. This business was put into liquidation in 2015.
Critics claimed Russell was not the most articulate candidate that Labour could have selected and polls suggested Reform would push Labour into third place. The party were 11-1 outsiders to claim victory with the SNP odds-on favourites when polls opened.
But Russell remained resilient, convinced that his party's strategy of being on the ground and knocking on doors would lead to success.
During the campaign he was criticised for failing to take part in an STV hustings programme and to debate in public with the other main candidates. He was dubbed the 'invisible man' by the Reform candidate Ross Lambie.
'I would rather spend my time chapping doors,' he said.
He even mocked his own alleged aversion to being in the spotlight. When asked by the BBC political editor Glenn Campbell what his favourite song was, Russell said, 'Don't ask me a mountain of questions' — the lyrics to Del Shannon's 1962 hit The Answer to Everything.
Russell arriving at the count
JANE BARLOW/PA
In the end he had the last laugh. Finishing his victory speech at the count on Thursday night, he shouted to his opponent: 'Ross, can you see me now?'
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